Pamela Cabriales was \u201cbeautiful, inside and out.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how family and friends described the 32-year-old Denver real estate agent and mother of a 6-year-old son. Pamela was regarded as the embodiment of pure love, always reaching out and trying to help others.<\/p>\n
On Feb. 20, 2021, Pamela was driving in downtown Denver after leaving dinner with a friend. While stopped at a red light near Colfax Avenue and Interstate 25, someone got out of the car in front of her and fired at least eight shots from an AR-15 into Pamela\u2019s vehicle, striking her in the head and killing her.<\/p>\n
The next day, police arrested a suspect in Pamela\u2019s murder\u00a0\u2014 a 14-year-old boy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d said Pamela\u2019s brother, Alex Cabriales. \u201cIt didn\u2019t make sense to me. What kind of environment did he grow up in to have such evil in him? We\u2019ll never get to see my sister again, neither will her son. My sister won\u2019t be at his wedding or see him graduate or see her grandkids. My sister will never experience any of that, because she\u2019s gone, and she\u2019s gone forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>Irma and Alex Cabriales, the mother and brother of Pamela Cabriales, hold the slain woman’s photo in front of her house in Westminster.<\/p>\n
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The unnamed boy was allegedly in a stolen car with two other teenagers when he said Pamela rear-ended them, though Alex said she only honked at them for cutting her off. The boy asked his friend if he could \u201cbust on them\u201d before spraying Pamela\u2019s vehicle with bullets, according to an arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a monster,\u201d Alex Cabriales said. \u201cOnce he was arrested, he said, \u2018Did you guys find my toys?\u2019 and he laughed. He said, \u2018I finally earned my stripes.\u2019 He is proud of doing what he did.\u201d<\/p>\n Pamela\u2019s murder was one of 67 homicides committed by juveniles in Colorado in 2021, according to juvenile delinquency court filings. That is the highest yearly total for juvenile murders in at least two decades. Last year, homicides also made up 1.41% of all juvenile filings \u2014 the state\u2019s highest percentage on record.<\/p>\n As concerns around youth violence rise, legislators have responded with several bills this session of the General Assembly, including efforts to fund projects to reduce youth crime, raise the minimum age children can be charged with most crimes, and prohibit law enforcement from lying to juveniles during interrogations.<\/p>\n While these bills advance through the Legislature, experts and politicians alike continue the debate on the best way to fight the violence.<\/p>\n Alex Cabriales and his mother, Irma Cabriales, hold a portrait of their sister and daughter Pamela Cabriales.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Younger and more violent<\/strong><\/p>\n In Colorado, annual homicide filings for juveniles have more than quintupled in the past 20 years, going from 13 in 2001 to 67 in 2021. Though annual homicides fluctuated between 2002 and 2015 \u2014 ranging from 15 to 44 each year \u2014 they\u2019ve increased steadily over the past six years. <\/p>\n While homicides committed by juveniles are rising, juvenile crime in general is going down. In 2021, overall juvenile court filings declined by more than 72% compared to 2001, decreasing from 16,986 to 4,753. The decline has been seen nearly every year since 2002, with minor increases in 2015 and 2019. <\/p>\n Despite this trend, rates of violent juvenile crime are creeping up.<\/p>\n Filings for robberies by juveniles were the highest on record in 2019. Weapons charges and sex offenses hit 12-year highs in 2020 and 2018, respectively, and assaults reached an eight-year high in 2019.<\/p>\n These trends also are evident in juvenile detention centers. Though juvenile arrests fell 55% from 2018 to 2020, the number of aggravated juvenile offenders increased by 68% from 2017, according to a Division of Youth Services report.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so many different factors that play into that,\u201d said Patrick Hedrick, director of Denver Public Safety Youth Programs. \u201cWe struggle to get across to young people alternatives to violence and taking different paths sometimes. When you\u2019re a 14-year-old whose brain isn\u2019t fully developed yet, you react and do so without thought, oblivious to the other consequences of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Hedrick said he\u2019s noticed an increase in assaults and weapon possessions by juveniles in Denver in recent years, but it\u2019s not only a problem in metro areas.<\/p>\n Deputy District Attorney Daniel Steinhauser said he has seen the number of juvenile cases double in the past two years in his 5th Judicial District, which covers Clear Creek, Eagle, Lake and Summit counties. He said the cases have gotten \u201cmore and more young\u201d and \u201cmore and more violent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re at a crisis,\u201d Steinhauser said. \u201cIt\u2019s a mental health crisis, and we\u2019re seeing it with adults, too, as we\u2019ve entered the era of the major prevalence of social media and technology.\u00a0\u2026 I see it all as a cry for help.\u201d<\/p>\n Steinhauser said he\u2019s seen youth violence in his district result from online bullying, trying to be cool on social media and social isolation or self-medicating drug use. In addition to these triggers, he said discussion of mental health is still seen as taboo in many communities, such as his own, with youth and their parents resisting treatment for fear of being seen as \u201ccrazy\u201d or \u201cweak.\u201d<\/p>\n In Colorado, 15% of youth suffer from depression, and 5.44% experience substance-use disorder, according to the 2022 State of Mental Health in America report. The report ranked Colorado as the sixth-worst state for youth substance abuse and 12th-worst for children whose insurance does not cover mental or emotional problems.<\/p>\n From 2007 to 2020, suicides among Colorado kids ages 10 to 19 more than doubled, according to state data.<\/p>\n These issues only worsened during the pandemic, which saw a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we can really understand enough (about) when the COVID pandemic hit,\u201d Hedrick said. \u201cTeachers, schools weren\u2019t able to have eyes on kids all the time and really see what was going on. That definitely exacerbated some issues, not to mention just the mental health strain.\u201d<\/p>\n Violent crimes jump<\/strong><\/p>\n Other violent crime indicators saw a similar spike during the pandemic.<\/p>\n The national murder rate rose 30% in 2020 from 2019, the largest single-year increase in more than a century, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year in Colorado, there were more than 30,500 reports of murders, sex offenses, aggravated assault and robbery \u2014 compared to less than 21,800 reports only five years earlier, according to state data.<\/p>\n Despite this, overall juvenile crime continued to decrease , which several experts attributed to recent diversion efforts.<\/p>\n Hedrick said Denver started its diversion programs in the late 1990s, providing therapy or community service for youth who commit crimes instead of citations or detention.<\/p>\n In diversion programs, the state can mandate juveniles receive services and support intended to reduce the likelihood of reoffending, such as substance abuse treatment, family therapy, anger management, tutoring, mentoring, apprenticeship programs or career training.<\/p>\n \u201cThe success of general crime going down is a testament to the success of diversionary programs to get juveniles the services that they need,\u201d said Arnold Hanuman, deputy executive director of the Colorado District Attorneys\u2019 Council. \u201cWe\u2019re proud of that downward trend.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanuman said the uptick in violent juvenile crime is a reflection of stress that youths face at home, school and in their communities, calling it consistent with the uptick in violent adult crime and a \u201csocietal trend across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n Confronting youth violence<\/strong><\/p>\n As juveniles commit more violent crime but less crime overall, state and local governments are scrambling to come up with remedies.<\/p>\n Elise Logemann, youth policy counsel for ACLU of Colorado, who specializes in legislation involving the delinquency system, said it\u2019s essential to use evidence-based approaches to handling youth violence.<\/p>\n \u201cFor kids in particular, we know that the earlier they have contact with the criminal justice system, the more likely they are in the future to engage in criminal activity. If we can provide them with appropriate services and programs in the right evidence-based and trauma-informed environment and space, that reduces recidivism.\u201d<\/p>\n Juveniles who were incarcerated are 23 percentage points more likely to return to jail as an adult compared to juveniles who committed similar crimes but avoided incarceration, according to a 2015 study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Incarcerated juveniles are 13 percentage points less likely to graduate high school than their diverted peers.<\/p>\n The study also found that 40% of incarcerated juveniles monitored over 10 years ended up back in prison by the time they were 25 years old.<\/p>\n Experts said the high recidivism rates are likely due to juveniles falling behind in school while away, losing access to employment opportunities due to their criminal records, experiencing worsening mental health issues while incarcerated, and meeting other more dangerous criminals in detention who introduce them to new crimes, such as drug dealing.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re putting young kids through the system at an early age or not providing the mental health care that they need or not providing responses in the right environment, then we know that can increase crime and cause problems to community safety,\u201d Logemann said.<\/p>\n Juveniles also face a higher risk of violence and sexual abuse while in detention. A 2015 report found that nearly 10% of youth in state juvenile detention facilities said they were victimized sexually. The report also detailed 139 assaults committed at the Spring Creek Youth Center in Colorado Springs in 2014. Persistent issues, including staff dealing drugs to inmates and sexual relationships between staff and juveniles, were reported just last year.<\/p>\n Against this backdrop, most juvenile criminals are already suffering from trauma. One study found that up to 90% of people in the juvenile justice system have experienced trauma, including high rates of physical or sexual abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to prevent them from becoming involved in that system at all,\u201d said Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-Denver, who is sponsoring four juvenile justice bills this session. \u201cThe disservice that we\u2019re doing to kids is not giving them the services when they need it. \u2026\u00a0If we would\u2019ve provided that help, then would that kid have ended up committing a crime?\u201d<\/p>\n Gonzales-Gutierrez said the state needs to increase resources, notably mental health support and mentoring programs in schools, to reach kids before they make contact with the criminal justice system. She also said they need to address underlying causes of crimes, including poverty and homelessness.<\/p>\n ‘Full thrust’ of justice<\/strong><\/p>\n Others argue the issue of recently increasing juvenile violence might come down to social changes.<\/p>\n Sen. John Cooke, R-Greeley, said society is moving away from personal responsibility.<\/p>\n The former sheriff of Weld County said parents now are more upset with police who arrest their children than they are with the children themselves. Though he doesn\u2019t believe juveniles need to be incarcerated for minor crimes, such as shoplifting, he said tough punishment is necessary for violent crimes and repeat offenders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fabric of our society is dwindling. We just need to get tough on crime, whether it\u2019s an adult or juvenile,” Cooke said, adding that for those who commit a violent crime, “use the full thrust of the juvenile justice system against him.\u201d<\/p>\n The 14-year-old boy accused of killing Pamela Cabriales was arrested and released from juvenile custody at least three times before the fatal shooting, 9News reported. The arrests occurred within a year of the murder and included charges of aggravated robbery. He also is believed to have been involved in a shooting at a Denver McDonald\u2019s the night before the murder, according to an arrest affidavit.<\/p>\n Alex Cabriales said he blames the judge and district attorney involved for his sister\u2019s death, saying they should have never set the boy free in the first place.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s evil, and there\u2019s no doubt in my mind that the only thing that\u2019s going to stop him from killing again is the government,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople should get a second chance and it depends on the crime, but it\u2019s my belief that once a juvenile picks up a gun, they are beyond rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n Steinhauser disagrees.<\/p>\n Last August, three middle-school students ages 12 and 13 broke into a gun store in Eagle and stole five guns. Steinhauser said the act shook the community and caused fears about an attempted school shooting. After the kids were identified and arrested, Steinhauser said his office struggled to decide when they should be released and how to handle the situation.<\/p>\n Over the course of seven months, the kids were put on house arrest and given mental health evaluations, therapy and other support services, including mentoring from their local school resource officer. At the sentencing hearing in March, two of the kids got probation and one said he now wants to be a police officer when he grows up.<\/p>\n Steinhauser called the case a \u201cprime example\u201d of how the juvenile justice system can work in the best interest of juveniles.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much trauma in the kids\u2019 lives. These were cries for help, and we were able to get them the help. These kids have shown us that they can be trusted in this community. They\u2019ve shown us that you are better than your worst decision, your worst choice or your worst moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Legislative response<\/strong><\/p>\n This session, the Legislature is considering a half-dozen bills regarding juvenile crime. <\/p>\n Two of the more controversial bills on the docket are Senate Bill 23, which seeks to prohibit law enforcement from lying to juveniles during interrogations, and House Bill 1131, which would increase the minimum age that children can be charged with most crimes from 10 to 13 years old.<\/p>\n \u201cI see this as a means of prevention from ending up in the adult system and from engaging in more concerning behaviors as an older adolescent,\u201d said Gonzales-Gutierrez. \u201cI see this as an opportunity to help our kids and really to help our families.\u201d<\/p>\n SB 23 makes a juvenile\u2019s statements inadmissible in court if law enforcement knowingly deceived them during the interrogation, including lying about evidence against the juvenile or offering unauthorized leniency to prompt a confession. The bill also requires all interrogations of juveniles to be recorded.<\/p>\n Gonzales-Gutierrez said deceptive tactics by law enforcement can lead to juveniles confessing to crimes they didn\u2019t commit out of fear or confusion. Of juveniles exonerated for crimes over a 25-year period, 38% had given false confessions, according to a 2013 study by the National Registry of Exonerations. In contrast, only 11% of exonerated adults provided false confessions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt puts our community in a place of saying, \u2018Do we teach our kids to trust the police?\u2019\u201d said Rep. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver. \u201cThere\u2019s a narrative on needing to work with police and not villainize police. We need to trust police, but they\u2019re fighting so adamantly for this ability to (deceive).\u201d<\/p>\n Todd Reeves, division chief of the Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Office, said the bill would make it more difficult to solve serious and violent crimes committed by juveniles, which are becoming more and more common . In addition to using deception to get confessions, Reeves said police also lie to protect and provide anonymity to those who reported a crime.<\/p>\n \u201cThat becomes incredibly troubling. It doesn\u2019t allow us to be able to provide justice to the victim of the crime,\u201d Reeves said. \u201cLaw enforcement, just like anybody else, cares what happens to these juveniles, and we care to come up with a good resolution to ensure there isn\u2019t further victimization and further crime. We need whatever tools are available to make that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n The law enforcement community at large has stood in firm opposition to SB 23, as well as to HB 1131.<\/p>\n HB 1131 would remove children ages 10-12 from the juvenile court\u2019s jurisdiction and increase the age for prosecution in juvenile court to 13 , except when a child is suspected of committing murder or felony sexual assault. The bill would also increase the minimum age when a juvenile can be tried as an adult from 12 to 14 .<\/p>\n Bacon said the bill seeks to protect children from the traumatizing aspects of the justice system, especially for children of color, who are arrested at disproportionately high rates. From 2012 to 2020, Black children made up less than 7% of Colorado\u2019s 10- to 12-year-old population, but were 20% of those detained, according to state data.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing disproportionate numbers of kids of color entering this system that is not the best equipped to help them build healthy relationships with community, to help them build healthy relationships with other people or to prevent recidivism down the line,\u201d Bacon said. \u201cWe need to deal with children when it comes to accountability for the behavior with less of a punitive system.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Little consequences now’<\/strong><\/p>\n In addition to law enforcement, many judges and district attorneys have spoken against HB 1131, saying that charging children with crimes allows courts to mandate rehabilitation efforts, such as therapy, to get the kids needed help. Steinhauser used his case of the three middle schoolers who stole from the gun store as an example of why it is often necessary to criminally charge young children.<\/p>\n Supporters argued that children should not have to face the trauma and potentially life-altering consequences of an arrest to access help. The bill would create a task force to recommend how to care for 10- to 12-year-olds who would previously receive mandatory care.<\/p>\n Mark Whitney, president of NCTI of Colorado \u2014 which provides classes to youth and adults referred out of the court system \u2014 said he is concerned about where the treatment is going to come from and who is going to pay for it. Whitney said many facilities like his own are understaffed and underfunded, with long wait lists. He is also worried the bill would result in too few consequences for children who commit serious crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very little consequences now for their actions,\u201d Whitney said. \u201cA lot of courts don\u2019t want these kids in the juvenile system, so they\u2019ll offer them a diversion program right now \u2014 a deal that basically says, \u2018Take this class, pay this small fine, and we\u2019re going to expunge your record.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cNow you\u2019re making it even easier for those kids.\u201d<\/p>\n HB 1131 has received some bipartisan support in the Legislature. Sen. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said he thinks keeping all young children out of the criminal justice system is in their best interest.<\/p>\n \u201cThe younger a person is in a juvenile justice situation, there\u2019s far more opportunity to make a change there and to make a difference,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cEven if what the young person has done is a pretty serious crime, it\u2019s very early in their development. You have an opportunity to make changes by simply making the right placement for the child, not putting them in the system. Incarceration\u2019s not the answer there.\u201d<\/p>\n SB 23 and HB 1131 are advancing mostly along party lines, with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed. SB 23 passed the full Senate and its first House committee vote March 15. HB 1131 passed its first committee vote on March 9.<\/p>\n Despite this progress, some experts question whether the Legislature is the right place to solve the problem of youth violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an issue that we\u2019re not going to legislate our way out of; nor are we going to arrest our way out of,\u201d said Hedrick . \u201cWe need to meet kids and families where they\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n Hanuman said the Legislature is moving too quickly in its rush to tackle youth violence. He said the state has passed about 37 bills dealing with juveniles in the past 10 years and needs to give the bills time to play out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes time to see additional changes have their effect,\u201d Hanuman said. <\/p>\n But for many Coloradans, change isn\u2019t coming fast enough.<\/p>\n Alex Cabriales said he\u2019s been waiting for change since his brother was fatally shot in Denver in 1994 \u2014 27 years before his sister\u2019s murder in the same city.<\/p>\n After Pamela\u2019s murder,\u00a0Cabriales\u00a0said he tried to take action by advocating for legislation to prevent criminals from being released on bond like his sister’s killer. But he has since given up, saying the Legislature is moving in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to make a difference,\u201d Cabriales\u00a0said. \u201cBut something needs to change here in Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n Timothy Hurst, The Denver Gazette<\/span>
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\n Timothy Hurst, The Denver Gazette<\/span>
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